Representativeness of the European social partner organisations: Commerce

This study aims to provide the necessary information for encouraging sectoral social dialogue in the commerce sector. The study comprises three parts: a summary of the sector’s economic background; an analysis of the social partner organisations in all the EU Member States, with special emphasis on their membership; their role in collective bargaining and public policy, and their national and European affiliations; and finally, an analysis of the relevant European organisations,particularly their membership composition and their capacity to negotiate. The series of representativeness studies aims to identify the relevant national and supranational social partner organisations in the field of industrial relations in selected sectors. The impetus for these studies arises from the goal of the European Commission to recognise the representative social partner organisations to be consulted under the EC Treaty provisions. Hence, this study is designed to provide the basic information required to establish sectoral social dialogue.